Preps!
The way Chris Jakubik looks at it, he was just filling his role.
The Novi Detroit Catholic Central safety got a hand in front of Mariano Valenti’s fourth-down pass intended for Kyle Livingway in the end zone. Jakubik’s batdown was the climax to the second overtime and preserved a thrilling 28-21 victory for the Shamrocks over their arch-rival, Birmingham Brother Rice.
“We were in man (pass coverage) and I stayed on my guy,” he said. “That’s all I had to do, stay on my guy and I did my job. I trusted everyone else that they would do their job and I did mine, and we got the win. It was a great team win.”
Brother Rice worked back from a 14-0 first half deficit and took its only lead, 21-14 in the first overtime when Valenti found Matthew Jordan in the back of the end zone.
But Catholic Central equaled the score when Cameron Ryan burst into the end zone on fourth-and-inches.
The Shamrocks got the eventual game-winner on the first play of the second overtime. Quarterback Austin Brown rolled out left and found no room to run, reversed direction and scrambled right. Eventually, he found Matt Young unguarded in the end zone, and his pass was right on target.
“Coach told me run it, and obviously I tried that but it was not there,” Brown said. “I tried making a play out of it. I knew Young was going out and my eyes lit up when he was open. To be honest, I knew he would be open because we haven’t looked at him all year, and they weren’t scouting that, so I knew there was a chance he would be open.”
The Shamrocks took control in the first half, jumping out to a 14-0 lead on rushing touchdowns by Nick Capatina and Ryan.
But Brother Rice shut down the Shamrock running attack in the second half, and came up with big plays in each of the last two quarters to equal the score. Valenti hit Jordan for a 3-yard touchdown pass in the third, and Marcellus Gaines got the equalizer with 5 minutes left in regulation on a 2-yard burst.
“Rice came to play,” Brown said. “We gave it to them in the first quarter but then we kind of laid down. We ended up pulling through as a team and it was a good win. It was crazy.”
“They had nothing to lose, we had everything to lose,” Young said. “They just made big plays and we had to respond. In overtime, that’s where we stepped up.”